UTeach Innovative Teaching Award
UTeach is committed to advancing innovative teaching practices in classrooms. To support this mission, we created the Innovative Teaching Awards for Apprentice Teachers, which recognize and encourage progressive teaching methods—such as project-based instruction, maker-centered learning, blended learning, and remote instruction—while celebrating the creativity and impact of our newest educators. After being paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, the award will return in Fall 2025 and beyond. A cash award of $2,000 will be divided among the winning submissions. The award application and rubric provide additional details.
IMPORTANT DATES
- Intent to apply due by SUNDAY, 10/5/25
- All application materials must be submitted by SUNDAY, 11/16/25
INTENT TO APPLY
AWARD APPLICATION & RUBRIC
PAST WINNERS
Spring 2020
Helena Castle - Winner
Bringing Cells to Life
Students participate in Project Cell, a fictional contest where students create interactive educational models of cells and how they work.
Caroline Anderson - Runner Up
Thermochemistry Maker Mobiles
Inspired by kinetic sculptures of Alexander Calder, students create 3-D hanging mobiles to review concepts of Thermochemistry.
Daniel Nieto - Finalist
Energy Everywhere
Students become familiar with various energy stores and explore different units of energy measurement.
Fall 2019
Phillips Adebayo - Maker Winner
Periodic Trends in 3-D
Students make a personal artifact describing a periodic trend: effective nuclear charge, ionization, electronegativity, and atomic radii.
Thinh Dao - PBI Winner
Tattoo Apprentice 101
Students use Desmos to create their won personal tattoo designs.
Sydney Grissom - Finalist
Classification Maker Project
Students utilize their knowledge of the kingdoms to produce quilt squares representing the content.
Spring 2019
Mao Leonard - Winner
Storytelling with Quadratic Transformations
Students selected a change that occurred in the lives of their favorite fictional characters or their own lives and describe a parabolic transformation that best represented this change.
Jessica Rodriguez - Winner
Body Systems Maker Unit
Students learn about the human body systems main functions and structures through hands on mini-maker projects.
Arami Rosales - Finalist
A Twist in the Marble Run - A Maker Unit
Students create a paper roller coaster through research, building, testing, and presenting their final product to the community.
Halle Herzog - Finalist
Personal Conic Pictures
Students create a picture using conics sections by hand and then in Desmos. Pictures are then printed and brought to life.
Ben Duong - Finalist
Making Exponentials and Logs Relevant
Students research and design an exhibit that explains exponentials or log functions.
Fall 2018
Peri Hornquist - Maker Winner
Students create a design using different geometric constructions.
Callum Campbell - PBI Winner
Students analyze real world video to create diagrams showing how energy is stored, transferred, and/or conserved by a system.
Spring 2018
Joey Ewbank - Winner
Pysong
A five day unit where students create a piece of music using python code.
Angela Tsai - Finalist
Mitsubishi Project
Students act as a design team for Mitsubishi Electric to create a new smartphone.
Ayesha Qadri - Finalist
Let's Make Some Soap
An introduction to making where students made a bar of soap and designed their own soap dish using an online software editor.
Payton Crawley - Honorable Mention
Creative Expression in Math
Students use hand tools and digital tools to build unique items designed to illustrate mathematical concepts.
Fall 2017
Adbulkarim Bora & Rikki Foster - Winners
Cars: A Crash Course on Momentum
tudents build, analyze, and modify car designs for challenges of their choosing.
Amy Gross & Tricia Hughes - Finalists
Customizing the Customary System
Students create their own measurement system and convert between their unique system, U.S. Customary, and metric system.
Spring 2017
Jonathan Broussard & Deena Telley - Winners
I Need a Drink; Water Quality & Hydrology in Chemistry
Students explore what it means to have clean water, how we know water is drinkable, & implications for Austin water.
Paige Arneson & Oren Connell - Winners
Egg-olution
Students model natural selection and see how adaptations affect an organism's fitness.
